Coronavirus Acts: first report to Scottish Parliament (June 2020)

2. Background

2.1. The UK Act received Royal Assent on 25 March 2020. The Scottish Parliament gave its consent to the provisions of the Act as far as they relate to devolved matters on 24 March 2020.

2.2. Section 97 of the UK Act sets out the requirements for the UK Government to report on the status of non-devolved provisions within the UK Act every two months.

2.3. The UK Act does not set out an equivalent commitment for reporting by the Scottish Government or other Devolved Administrations. However, at the meeting of the Scottish Parliament's Finance and Constitution Committee on 24 March 2020 and in the subsequent Chamber debate on the Legislative Consent Memorandum for the UK Act, the Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, Europe and External Affairs made a commitment to report on the use of the powers in the UK Act as far as they relate to Scotland, and to do so in a way that was consistent with the reporting arrangements to be set out in the then Coronavirus (Scotland) Bill, now the Scottish Act.

2.4. The Scottish Act received Royal Assent on 6 April 2020. Section 15 requires Scottish Ministers to report on the operation of Part 1 of the Act and the Scottish Ministers will also report in similar terms on provisions in the UK Act for which the Scottish Parliament gave legislative consent.